And Now, For Your Viewing Pleasure...

......a video of Parker playing piano with his bum.  Enjoy.

Bizarre Love Triangle

This video makes me laugh every time.  Parker was playing with the radio, turning it on and off (he says a variation of stop when he turns it off the first time).  But when he turns it back on, he realizes there's an awesome song on the radio and he just has to dance.  He can't help himself.  I love how he tries to snap his fingers while he gets his groove on.  And as soon as the song is done and the DJ starts talking he's all like, "Eh.  Whatevs." and runs away.

Oh, and ignore the spare diaper sitting on the end table.  Parker poops sometimes.

Playing, Haircuts, Gears, Alphabet, And Pre-Swimming Giddiness

Parker's hair was getting super long again (it seems to grow pretty quickly, which I guess I'll take the blame for) so we thought we'd try out a new haircutting place to see how it went.  We took him to Tortoise & The Hair Kids Cuts which, coincidentally, is right next to The Playtrium.  We had never been there before but their store is really cool -- they have airplanes and cars and stuff for the kids to sit in, and lots of fun kid stuff every where.  We ALMOST bought some cool puzzles and stuff, but maybe next time.

Parker riding in a sweet pink convertible.

Snippity-snip.

He's actually a pretty neat eater so he hasn't worn a bib in a looooong time.  The unfortunate by-product of his neatness is that he doesn't like to wear the haircutting capes.  So we went without for this cut.  Maybe we'll practice wearing capes and stuff around the house.

Getting his car ride on.  He had a TONNE of hair!  April and I were both pretty surprised when the haircut was finished because there was a massive pile on the floor.  

April and Parker on their way back home after checking the mail (one of his favourite activities).  He'll even walk to other peoples' mail boxes just so he can point at them and go, "MAIL!!!"  And even though I was really far away when I took this photo, I'm pretty sure Parker is going, "Bump BUMP!" as he steps over the curb.  He always announces when there are curbs to be stepped over or when there are bumps in the road as we drive by saying bump BUMP (with the emphasis on the second bump, naturally).

Walkie McWalkersons.

Playing with the alphabet letters on the fridge.  It's pretty cool because when you put a letter in the machine thing, it sings a little song about the letter and gives an example of what it sounds like.  So far Parker knows P really well, which makes for a good duet.

And here he is playing with the crazy gears he got for Christmas.  When you flip that switch, the main gear starts turning (you can make it go clockwise or counter-clockwise).  Then you start attaching the other gears to it so you can make crazy patterns.

Just before we left to go swimming in the afternoon, Parker was running around the hallway giving me hugs.  We do this weird thing where I say, "Little Beeeeeaaaaaaar....!" and then he giggles and runs to me and gives me a hug.

While we were playing I showed him how to fill up the car with gas!  Ha!  He drives the little car over to the pump and goes, "Gulp gulp gulp gulp!"  

Can You Hear Me Now?

Parker loves phones and he calls them all "Papa" because we always say he can talk to Nana and Papa on them.  Here's a funny video of him playing with my cell phone while sitting on the stairs.  It looks like he's actually talking to someone but it's turned off.  He gets stage fright when someone is on the other end and then he hangs up immediately, but as long as it's silent he'll go, "Hewwo?  Hewwwwwwwooooo?  Hi!!!"

Also, try to ignore the music in the background.  Parker and I were rocking out to some Muse that morning.

Random Photos of Parker Playing

One of Parker's favourite new words is, "Play!"  He'll grab us by the hand (well, finger) and bring us over to his little parking garage that he got for Christmas and want us to drive cars around it with him.  Here are some random photos of him this afternoon playing.

One of the best things about the parking garage is that you can use any car in it.  We have a million interchangeable cars, and all of them zoom down the spiral ramp and up the elevator just the same and he really likes that.

A new sippy cup (with a straw) and some apples!  Mmmmmm!

Driving the hot rod into the elevator. 

Brobee coming to get you!  Thanks Scott and Gemma!

Parker Recommends......

"Grumpy Bird" by Jeremy Tankard!  We were at Chapters one day browsing the kids section and Grumpy Bird practically jumped off the shelf into our hands!  The illustrations are AWESOME, and the story is pretty cool, too!  Parker and I are big fans, so I actually emailed the author through his website to say we loved the book, and he offered to send us a sketch!  How cool is that?  Check it out:

Check it out if you haven't and also be on the lookout for his next book (which should be in stores now) called "Boo Hoo Bird"!  

Happy Birthday Me!

It was my birthday the other day, so Parker took me to the Playtrium in the morning to celebrate!  Here's a photo journey of our day:

Getting strapped in!  Weeeee!

Smash through some barricades!  PARKER SMASH!

This is for the "Would You Let Your Child Play In A Ball Pit?" thread on BabyBells. I edited out the heroin needle, pile of puke, half-eaten turkey sandwich, and Amelia Earhart. C'mon, how can you say no to the ball pit after seeing that face?  :D

Exploring mysterious tunnels.

Saying hi through the plastic window bubble thing to everyone who walked in!

Crawling through tiny tunnels.  Oof.  Daddy's getting too old for this.  :D  Good thing you can get knee pads from the front desk!

More crazy tunnels and secret passageways!  Luckily his Christmas-socks with little grippers held up just fine.  

Piloting a helicopter with a resounding, "WHOA!"

Whoa.  This makes me dizzy.  I knew that if I needed to puke, though, I could just puke in the ball pit like everyone else.

This is Parker's favourite section in the whole structure -- it's a bunch of little pet-flap-type doors that he loves to run through. Knee pads are a definite bonus here because the floor is really hard and uncomfortable. It's much easier to have fun when your knees aren't bleeding.

"Should I jump?  I dunno...  it's kind of far...."

I asked another Dad who was there to take a photo of us being goofy in one of the round bubble window things. Parker didn't disappoint.

On our way home we stopped at the grocery store and bought one of those whole roasted chickens to share for lunch!  Mmmm... We loves our chicken.

More Christmas Photos

Here are some photos of Christmas with Nana and Papa!  Unfortunately we didn't make it down to Dresden for Christmas this year, but Nana and Papa came up to visit and stay with Parker while we were out of town, so I'm sure they had a great time together!  

Here's Parker checking out the cool parking garage playset he got from Great Grandma!

He also got these awesome magnetized gear things that you stick to the fridge and make different patterns!  Each gear does something different and you can make all kinds of crazy patterns with them.  He'll randomly run through the kitchen and turn on the gears, shuffle them around a bit, then keep running.  

Mommy helping Parker open a box.

Mommy helping Parker open a present (I think it was clothes).

Opening his present from Uncle Byron, Aunt Maria, and Brenna!  Word on the street is that Brenna picked out the books especially for Parker!  Thanks!

"OMG it's a book!  I LOVE books!"

"Hooray!  I don't have this one yet!"

Concentrating while he reads about opposites.

Mommy and Parker reading his new books!

Random Videos

Playing with a balloon (or "baboon", as he calls it) in our disaster zone living room.

Using his toy vacuum (or "Odo", as he calls it) at Nana and Papa's house.

This is what Parker did on the drive from Kingston to Dresden. I think we were going through Toronto around this time.

And here's Parker taking a break from wiping spaghetti on himself to laugh at Mommy's funny faces. When ever he eats spaghetti he always goes shirtless because we hate getting the sauce stains out of his shirt.

Future Piston Parker Elliott

Check out the sweet jersey Parker got for Christmas from Uncle Devon, Aunt Tracy, cousin Connor, and cousin Mason! Look at him palm that door knob! He'll be dunking in no time. Thanks guys!